I agree that Julie Andrews' [alas, now defunct] singing is perfect; however, there was zip/zero/nada sex appeal between her and Christopher Plummer. She was too nunly and not-much-funly. Maria von Trapp is more than just a singer. She's the one who steals the old widower's heart and wins over his naughty children.

I met the actual Maria von Trapp when I was a kid and she came to Knoxville to give a talk. She was quite gracious. While "The Sound of Music" is a beautiful movie, it doesn't fully portray the seriousness of the circumstances. the von Trapps were very courageous.

What, they aren't going to make Mr. Von Trapp black yet? C'mon, lefties get off on seeing black Jesus-Mandingo's taking blond women, emasculating white males, and p.c-ifying classic entertainment with basterdization, logic be damned! This seems like a perfect opportunity to stick one again to the white man!

whoresoftheinternetSomething like that is already in the works for an HBO series. It's a revival of "Porgy and Bess", all the characters are white NASCAR fans living in tenements, drinking too much, doing drugs and settling their differences with violence.

Ruth Anne Adams AT 1:38 said......however, there was zip/zero/nada sex appeal between her and Christopher Plummer.

OMG, what movie do you watch? One of the most romantic and steamy scenes in movie history is one between Maria and the Captain: it's the scene at the party where she and the children are on the patio/veranda/whatever and she is teaching young Curt the Lendler. The Captain comes out and you can just see electricity in the air as he takes her hand and they dance. Their various reactions as they dance is a lesson in delicacy in acting. It's marvelous, it's gorgeous, it leaves me breathless every time I see it.

The video of that scene used to be available on YouTube, but I can't find it now. Sorry, your loss!

This is an excellent choice I just now decided having not known who Carrie Underwood is two seconds ago. I'm that fast.

I went to YouTube to see who she is and how she sounds. Two seconds is all it takes. And I thought, "this is the sort of thing that the kids will practice to. Go see how they're doing."

They all suck. I looked at five interpretations of Blown Away in ASL and they all suck. Partially, I couldn't stand watching the whole things.

I am very sorry to say that, and keep saying it, but honestly, these kids simply do not know what they're doing. In each case I just had to stop when I realized the choices they made to interpret the song.

For example. Does the poetic phrase "storm clouds build in her eyes" mean "crying?" They all say "crying."

My clouds float across. So I'd go "dark" where the "cloud" goes, and then do "cloud" and at the end of "cloud" go zooop straight directly into both eyeballs. No crying. Because the rain in the song hasn't yet started.

The words are about an actual storm with dry lightening, dark clouds, rain, tornado. The songwriter is bringing the storm clouds into her eyeballs.

The most interesting vid for me was two girls together because they had to agree on how to interpret poorly. They did very well at synching it poorly.

Blown away. The storm blows the house right off the plains. The whole scene cleared. But that word blown in English is sort of special because it actually does blow when spoken, you sort of blow the word 'blown' through your mouth sort of like a trumpet when sung, so that whole idea of blowing like a storm god blowing everything away starting with hands cupped at the mouth and with puffed cheeks and wiping the board off with powerful air blast, none of them do anything like that, like they're singing a song emotionally and saying the phrase "BLOWN AWAAAAY" as Carrie Underwood does, they all just flap flap their open hands for blowy wind. All of them do, they're all complete messes actually. I can't watch anymore.

If they would only accept me as their coach via these strong esp signals I'm sending then this matter would be settled.

it doesn't fully portray the seriousness of the circumstancesI was 4 or 5 when I saw it the first time, and someone told me afterward that the father had gone back to Austria for some reason and the Nazis boiled him in oil. It was probably 2 decades before I found out that didn't happen.

Stoutcat: I agree with your interpretation of that particular scene. Plummer exudes masculinity. But is Julie Andrews' response much more than Leisl's infatuation with Rolf? She doesn't portray the struggle of choosing this one man over Jesus Christ as her groom well enough. Maybe they should have left in that part rather than write he Confidence song.

The Sound of Music is my least favorite musical ever (and I stage managed for a musical theatre troupe; I know my musicals.) I always hated the title song until I heard Ewan McGregor (good grief! Ewan McGregor?!) do it in Moulin Rouge. I've always enjoyed Andrews' other work, but TSoM is just too mannered for my tastes. My shortcoming, I'm sure.

The Julie Andrews 1957 "Cinderella" is available on dvd,although originally cast in color,it was only saved in kinescope b&w. I would recommend it to see the young actress, It's a real shame she was passed over to play Eliza Doolittle in the film.

PBS presented South Pacific a couple of years ago, not staged ,but sort of done as a radio show. Reba Mcyntire,played Nellie Forbush, she did an excellent job with the songs.